Berlin v Reykjavík
Over the past four years I've released twenty-six issues of Elska Magazine, made in twenty-six different cities, and featuring well over four hundred local boys and local stories. Our two biggest sellers so far have been our issues made in Reykjavík (Iceland) and Berlin (Germany).
The print versions of both have been sold out for a good while, but last week we released a new pressing of Elska Berlin. Fortunately it's so far been a success, narrowing the gap between it and Elska Reykjavík by just 34 copies. Obviously for a magazine named after an Icelandic word, I have a soft spot for Reykjavík, but I'd kind of like to see Berlin take the number one position from it, just to shake things up a bit.
The issues are really quite different. The Berlin men were generally more bold, resulting in a lot more nudity and more eccentricity (especially in the subjects' personal style). By contrast, the Reykjavík guys were shier, certainly less naked and a little more conservative with fashion. However, the stories the Reykjavík men contributed are truly excellent.
Indeed Elska Reykjavík was the first issue that really made me think of the story component of this publication as something truly special. Since then there have been some issues that stand out especially for the images (Elska Los Angeles in my opinion) and others that are especially strong for their stories (Elska Dhaka I'd say). Some of course are great on both counts (I'd like to believe they all are, but I think Elska Cape Town and Elska Providence are good exemplar issues).
In any case I'm excited to see Berlin gaining more ground, but I hope one day another city can take over as the top selling issue, perhaps a city less expected. The next year of Elska will see issues made on four different continents — maybe one of those can take the lead.
Liam Campbell is editor and chief photographer of Elska Magazine. He doesn't maintain a favourite issue. They're all good of course!
